I'm sorry
for to those of you who don't want to read a long photograph bloated blog about Ottawa Comic-Con so if you fall into that category, I apologise and invite you to skip this one and read again tomorrow. For the rest of you, Comic-Con was fricking
AWESOME!!! (notice that along with the exclamation points, that word is bold, underlined
and italicised). There was not one minute of the hours and hours I was there standing in lines or walking around (thank you comfy Converse) that I was bored or frustrated or regretted paying the money I spent on the tickets.
Okay... how to blog about this without breaking the internet? I'll just post a few of the photos I took and explain them. Plus I'll add a few things that I remember that I was too excited or just plain forgot to photograph. Excuses in advance for the quality of the pictures. I was using my iPod and while it's super convenient, it has no flash.
Let me start by saying this whole thing was super well organised. So many times we'd approach a mind-boggling lineup for anything from a panel to an autograph to a taco. Each time the line was quick and orderly and we'd arrive at our destination faster than expected and without it feeling like a time suck. I think I'll email the organisers about that after I write this.
So Patrick Stewart was supposed to be a guest but he had to cancel last minute (he did not make it so). In his place they got the illustrious William Shatner. What joy! Then the disappointment hit when I noticed that I had tickets to Sunday and he'd only be there Saturday. Damn. Note to self:
next year, go both days.
Turned out it was okay because we still got to see some fun and funny Star Trek Stars, namely John DeLancie and Brent Spiner. They were both self-effacing and self-aggrandizing and a joy to listen to. There was also a panel I would have liked to see with Adam Baldwin (star of Chuck and Firefly) but I had to skip it because I was so hungry that my stomach thought that my throat was cut.
A quick couple of stories from the food court: I saw a Black woman with a haircut like mine. We turned to each other and exclaimed "I love your hair!" and burst out laughing. She waved to her husband to get the camera... she wanted us to take a photo together! How fun. Unfortunately I was too overwhelmed and excited to take one with my own camera to so there's no evidence.
Later at our second stop there (we were at the Con for over 6 hours) I turned from the concession and saw a scene that made me laugh. With so many people in costumes eating, it looked like the very last scene in The Avengers where the team is just having shawarmas in silence. It was so cool.
Then there was the costumes. So much hard work went into people's costumes! There were people dressed like every superhero imaginable, as well as pop culture icons and comic book heroes. Although I though I love this stuff, even I'm not geeky enough to get all of the costumes. Note to self:
start working on next year's steampunk costume now.
People were so eager to pose! If someone was wearing a costume, all you'd do is just go up to them and ask "can I take your picture?" and they'd not only stop but post in an appropriate stance. A guy dressed as Thor was even directing a shot saying to the guy: "okay you pretend that my hammer is too heavy to pick up and I'll point and laugh". Some came as a group and posed together. That was cool. Am I saying cool a lot? It's because it was.
What else? It being both Mother's Day and Elliott's 16th birthday, we pretty much just gave each other the gift of geekery and promised to do it up right nest year. Although Elliott did get me a
TARDIS heat changing mug and Scott bought me a t-shirt so Mother's Day wasn't a complete wash. What am I saying?
Comic-Con + Mother's Day = BEST. DAY. EVER.
kxx
Pictures! Get your red-hot pictures here...
This is Elliott's friend James dressed as Tom Baker... the Doctor people who've never seen Doctor Who would recognise. People were taking his photo all day.
The Delorean from Back To The Future.
An example of some of the comic book art you could see (and buy).
Some posers "fighting". This group of 6 were together and they didn't fight, they stayed in a tableau two at a time for a few seconds each time so people could get a good shot.
Back To The Future. His proton gun has lights and sounds!
The stars of a Quebec based Canadian superhero web series. The woman was quite errr... pneumatic.
From what I've heard, it isn't a Con without a slave Leia
The car from Starsky and Hutch. I couldn't care less but it sure was shiny.
A guy in a costume. No clue what he's dressed as.
These ads used to crack me up and I was delighted to see these guys in person. See? Not only nerds and sci-fi dorks. People obsessing over commercials can have some fun too.
My friend Sean. He's playing a henchman from the Venture Brothers. I looked after his baby son last year and his wife is one of my oldest friends. See? It takes all kinds to make a Con.
This is the costume style I want to try for next year. She's in Steampunk attire which is a mix of Victorian chic and sci-fi gadgets. Lots of leather and lace, gears and ray-guns. Gorgeous.
Boba Fett.
Cat Woman, The Joker and Poison Ivy.
Star Wars guys.
This man's pirate costume came complete with a bizarre little lizard bird thing whose head he controlled with a wire.
How could I resist a fellow Whovian (that's what we Doctor Who lovers are called)?
Captain America!
No clue. If I didn't know who they were, I was too shy to ask. I felt like I should know.
Look! It's Data from Star Trek! He was so funny. He talked a lot about working with his favourite actor... himself when he got to be Dr. Soong, B4 and Lore in various episodes. And he did such a dead-on impersonation of Patrick Stewart that I didn't miss Jean-Luc at all.
Here's John DeLancie who played Q in a few episodes of Star Trek. I loved when a fan asked a specific question and he said something like, "asking me that is like asking you to describe a dinner party you had 25 years ago. But please recall every minute detail all the way down to shopping for the food".
This is Adam Baldwin. He played John Casey on Chuck and the reason he was at this Con, Jayne from Firefly and Serenity. I didn't see his panel but I caught this while he signed expensive autographs.
Okay, that's all folks! Now to fire off that email so the organisers do another one of these next year. Otherwise I'll have to take my steampunk dream to Montreal....
k
